John T Henry Auction Company

Reviews for John T Henry Auction Company

John T Henry Auction Company received an average rating of 1.00 out of 5 stars from 1 reviews.

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Dishonest Auctioneer by treasuretrove.mcm on 9/25/2022

 

BEWARE! John T. Henry Auctions is a dishonest business. I would advise against doing business with them, especially if you plan to bid on one of their online auctions on Hibid or similar platform. I bid on an item in one of their recent online auctions through Hibid. It was a nicely framed Franklin Roosevelt signed photo and two signed letters. They titled the lot “AUTOGRAPHED LETTER AND PHOTO FDR” and gave no further description other than the dimensions of the piece. The photos in the listing showed only the front of the piece. Buying autographs online can be risky, so I emailed and called John T. Henry Auctions to find out more about the piece, but they never responded. Well, I won the piece, and when it was delivered several days later, I was dismayed to find that it was clearly a reproduction. On the back of the piece was a certificate from the “National Heritage Gallery” clearly stating that this was a reproduction. National Heritage Gallery makes and sells “manufactured collectibles” similar to the Franklin Mint or the Bradford Exchange. Any auctioneer worth his salt has dealt with these kinds of “collectibles” many times and can identify them easily. This piece was clearly a reproduction, but John T. Henry Auctions chose not to disclose this in the lot description, or to photograph the documentation on the back of the piece that clearly identifies it as a reproduction. It would be like showing a photo of a gold ring, calling the lot “14k GOLD RING”, and not disclosing that it is stamped “14k GOLD PLATED” on the inside of the ring. I immediately emailed John T. Henry Auctions letting them know that I was not happy that they did not disclose that this was actually labeled on the back as a reproduction, and that I wanted to return it for a refund. They did not respond. I contacted Hibid to see if they could help. According to the Hibid rep, they contacted John T. Henry Auctions about the matter, and got no response. Clearly, John T. Henry Auctions knew they were selling an obvious reproduction as genuine, did not disclose this in the lot listing, did not respond when I tried to get more info about the item, and will not even respond to a very unhappy customer. Is it risky buying autographs online? Yes, of course, but John T. Henry Auctions engaged in fraud when they did not disclose that this was actually marked as a reproduction. If it was an honest mistake on their part, I would expect them to take responsibility and correct the situation. The fact that they have been completely silent throughout tells me they knew exactly what they were doing when they sold a fake item as genuine.